


Mausoleum Alone

by GeorgeFredSlytherin



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Awesome Klaus, Gen, Loving Klaus, Loving Luther, Mausoleum, Vietnam, vietnamese
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-28 16:17:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19397776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeorgeFredSlytherin/pseuds/GeorgeFredSlytherin
Summary: Klaus goes back to the mausoleum for the first time since they travelled back in time.





	Mausoleum Alone

“Number Four, come with me. It is time for your specialized training.”

The room freezes. Luther is literally halfway through a pushup, Allison is trying her hand at manipulative writing and Five is in the middle of a jump. Klaus doesn’t really have time to process where the rest of his siblings are because when Five stumbles out of his jump he runs straight into the wall. It takes him one point five seconds to pull himself around and glare at their father.

“Where are you taking him?” Luther says, still in a weird half-plank-ish position. 

“That is none of your business Number One,” Hargreeves responds blandly. “You will continue with your own training until dinner. Number Seven, record how many push-ups he does bef -“

“No, wait a second,” Allison interrupts, her voice coming out far too loud – She’s been overcompensating for her no-longer-existent injury – “Where are you taking Klaus?”

“Where I take NUMBER FOUR is none of your business Number Three. If you or the rest of your siblings continue to speak there will be consequences.”

Ben opens his mouth and Klaus won’t let BEN of all people be punished for him, so he grips his brother’s shoulder – Alive, alive, alive – and says, “Danke all, but there’s nothing to be worried about.” He gives a silly grin and turns over-dramatically to the overgrown weed behind him.  
“Okey doke artichoke. Let’s go Sir.”

He catches a glimpse of the horror on Diego’s face as his father grabs his wrist –rather roughly, but he’d never like Klaus’ over-exaggeration thing - and pulls him along. He flashes a thumbs up at his siblings and waves with his GOODBYE hand – There’s no tattoo there yet, but his siblings will get it (Probably).

The walk to the mausoleum is long-ish. When Klaus had been a kid – the first time around – Hargreeves had only ever made him walk when he was really angry. He had wanted to let Klaus stew in his fear. It had worked back then. It doesn’t really now.

When Klaus had been actual-thirteen Klaus, the worst thing –without a doubt - he had experienced had been the mausoleum. On missions, he was always the lookout, and Ben had usually hidden himself in another room during his thing anyway. Klaus hadn’t seen much of that bloodshed and violence. It was only the bloodshed of the ghosts he lived with every day that Klaus had seen. Most of the time he’d had been able to ignore them – kinda-not-really – but in the mausoleum, he hadn’t been able to avoid his companions at all. He had been trapped with his greatest fears in the dark for hours on end.

But now, Klaus was different. Thirty-year-old looks thirteen Klaus had been tortured for a full day, wearing nothing but a towel. He had spent years high and drunk, waking up with hangovers in back alleyways, finding himself beat up when he finally woke because of something or other he couldn’t quite remember doing. This Klaus had time travelled, had lived in Vietnam for ten months during a WAR. Had not only seen death, but created it. This Klaus had watched his friends and enemies die around him – so many just… gone.

Klaus has found that the ghosts of those he knew – the ones he only saw in his nightmares – were far more frightening than the ghosts he’d never known.

So when Klaus is thrown into the mausoleum and the door shuts behind him, he doesn’t freak out. He walks to a corner and sits down, facing away from the ghosts – He still doesn’t LIKE them – and starts singing. It was a song from the war. A song his unit had sung when they were bored or marching, or just needed to reassure one another that they were alive. He closes his eyes and sings for a long time, switching between English and Vietnamese, war songs and lullabies, and he is not afraid – twitchy yes, but not afraid.

When he hears the pop of a spatial jump he turns to find Five behind him. The not-boy looks about as frantic as he has ever seen him. “Get over here,” Five hisses. “We need to go before Dad catches me out of bed.”

“What time is it?” Klaus says conversationally, and in a completely normal tone.

Five throws him a quick look and snaps, “Midnight. What does that matter? Come on!” Klaus raises an eyebrow because there is clearly no plan behind this plan, but he steps forward. Five grabs him and then they move – without moving – through what must be space-time, and Klaus lands unceremoniously on Diego’s floor. He looks up to find the rest of his siblings gathered around. Vanya rushes forward, handing him a hot-chocolate while Diego throws a blanket round his shoulders.

“Are you ok?” and, “We’re so sorry,” and variations there-of followed quickly, each sibling’s words tumbling over one another. Klaus almost starts singing again, just to drown them out. After about a minute he gets rather fed-up.

“Dù’ng lai!” He yells – Vietnamese for stop - He’d forgotten they didn’t know the language, but it does the trick. The room stills. “Sorry,” he says at the quizzical looks on their faces, “I meant stop. Language mix ups and all that.” Five nods shakily, while the rest of his siblings look conf- wait. Klaus backtracks to Five. His littlest-oldest-technically the same edge as them now-kinda-not really- brother looks horrible. He’s pale and looks really shaken. Klaus gets up off the floor and wraps the blanket given to him around Five’s shoulders.

“Five,” he whispers quietly, “Five, you ok buddy?” Five doesn’t respond, but after a second he nods again. Klaus leads his brother over to the bed and makes sure he’s sitting comfortably. “You good?” he asks softly. 

“Wait,” Diego breaks in, “Shouldn’t he be comforting you?”

Klaus looks over at his concerned siblings and shrugs. “He jumped into a mausoleum,” he says. “First time in a mausoleum’s pretty freaky, and Five probably wasn’t expecting the dark, creepy dead body atmosphere. I don’t blame him for being shaken up. It’s creepy. Why?”

“I’m not shaken up,” Five mumbles. “I’m just cold.” Klaus hands him the hot chocolate and nods seriously.

“It is pretty cold in there,” he says.

“Klaus,” Allison says, “Why aren’t you scared? We thought –”She looks so very confused, Klaus notices, as does the rest of his family. Klaus gives her -gives them- a small comforting smile.

“I know what you thought,” he says, “but it’s not so scary in there anymore.” He frowns and then amends his statement, “I mean, it’s still pretty terrifying, but it’s like- been there, done that, you know?” His siblings clearly don’t know. He frowns and decides to lighten it up a little. “After Vietnam”-he’s never been so glad that Ben made him tell his siblings about Vietnam- “I just saw a lot there? You get used to it. I just did my bestest to drown the ghosties out and then – poof – you were there! So it’s all better now. I gotta go back of course, cuz Dad can’t know I was gone, but hey, thanks for pulling me out for a little while. Every little bit counts, right guys? Guys?” 

Klaus’ sibling’s faces have gone through a VERY strange array of emotions in the past few minutes. Confusion had turned to grief and then horror and anger and then distraughtness –which isn’t a word, he knows, but he’s not sure how else to describe their current expressions. Klaus is starting to get really freaked out. “Ugh… guys?”

“Klaus…” Luther whispers, and Klaus shakes his head.

“We’ve done this already Luther.” He says. “We’ve done the whole, ‘I’m so sorry we missed your pain and suffering thing.’ It’s ok. You guys didn’t have any way of knowing and – “

“Klaus, shut up and listen!” Luther yells. Klaus frowns and goes silent, waiting. Luther takes a deep breath and then, “I once said I wanted to be like Number Four. I told you I was sorry for saying it, that I was wrong. Turns out I wasn’t.” Klaus stiffens, but Luther plows through. “I do want to be like Number Four -no- I want to be like KLAUS. I don’t know how you do it, how you’re so… so…”

“Brave?” Diego asks, and Luther nods. 

“I want to be brave like you Klaus, but I want to be open and loving and kind too. How can you be all those things? I just… You should know. I don’t know if you care Klaus, but… I do want to be like you.”

Luther hasn’t made Klaus cry in a very long time, but he’s crying now. Then, suddenly, Vanya is hugging him. “I want to be like you too Klaus.” She whispers.

Klaus’ night doesn’t end with a group hug, his siblings pressed around him. Instead, it ends in a mausoleum, ghosts shrieking all around him. His life isn’t a fairy tale after all, but that doesn’t change the warmth in his chest and the memory of his siblings just being THERE for him. He finds that, as he sings, he can’t stop smiling.

**Author's Note:**

> Because Klaus has been through worse, and got braver throughout his life.
> 
> Hey guys! I’m trying to find some fanfic that doesn’t swear. TUA doesn’t seem to have ANY. If you guys have some, please comment one or whatever. Contact me. Please?


End file.
